Noosa Heads, Sunday March 13, 2011 - After two years of Alaia (wooden finless surfboard) and finless expression sessions, the world's most creative surfers were given the opportunity to slide fin-free across the playful waves of Noosa's First Point, during the first ever professional finless surfing competition the Seaglass Project Fin-Free Pro at the Noosa Festival of Surfing, today. Riding everything from the ancient wooden Alaias to the more recent foam and fibreglass models, 24 of the world's best finless surfers took up the challenge that saw American Nose-riding champion Christian Wach, prove the day's standout and overall event winner. "I rode this fibreglass finless for the first time today, it's easy to ride and I ended up doing well, so I'm stoked," Wach said. "Finless surfing is tricky, and the wooden Alaias' are pretty hard but once you get it down its not as hard as you think. The board I rode today makes it easy to paddle and catch as many waves as possible. It feels very different on a wave, and its nice to mix it up." Wach's supreme control and unmatched ability earned him 6.75 and 5.75 scores (out of ten) to place first ahead of the very man who reintroduced finless surfing to modern surfing Tom Weggener (USA), who posted 5.00 and 4.15 scores to finish in second place. Despite placing second, Weggener exited the surf grinning from ear to ear due to the success of this year's event. "It's self evident that today was a truly great event and a great way to start a whole new division in modern surfing," Weggener said. "We had every type of finless board fighting away out there, the best finless surfers in the world on one beach with the bait for prize money and we all learned so much today. It was truly great." Placing third through sixth respectively were Jordi Brown, Jackson Winter, Fred Branger and Harrison Roach all of whom displayed impressive skills in this exciting new pro division. While individuals did battle in the Seaglass Project, it was all about team spirit in the Classic Malibu Clubs challenge. Local club Alexandra Headland Malibu Club rose to the top of 12 international teams to take top honours in the tag team event. Advancing through two rounds of competition to reach the final, it was Alexandra's elected 'Power Surfer' Luke Potter and fellow team member Brad Sultman who sealed victory for their team, snatching the lead off home club Noosa in the final minutes. While Potter opened up with a great 7.75 ride (out of ten) it was Noosa's Matt Cudihy who shook things up posting 7.0 and 7.1 rides before Sultman snatched the lead back for Alexandra, posting a 6.75, enough to see his team sail into first place. Californian based team the Malibu Surfing Association came in, in third while Manly Longboard Club finished in fourth position. The Noosa Longboard Festival continues tomorrow with the first of the amateur heats. For more information log on to www.noosafestivalofsurfing.com.